Guest Post with author Lisa Clark O'Neill

Guest Post with author Lisa Clark O'Neill

Welcome back everyone! Today I have a special treat for you all. The talented Ms. Lisa Clark O'Neill not only has a book to share with us, but also a fun guest post. I hope you all stick around for the excitement … it just might end with a fabulous GIVEAWAY!!! Maybe. *wink* Today we will find out all about DECEPTION and we even have an excerpt to share. I am excited, so I am just going to get started. Please help me welcome to the blog:

**LISA CLARK O'NEILL**

**BIO**

One fine day in the not-too-distant past, Lisa Clark O’Neill left Wittenberg University with a BA in English, which she promptly neglected. After working as an interior designer, decorative artist, and Montessori art teacher (there may have been a BA in art as well,) she finally settled into the role of mother to two very fine children.

However, two years of doing the stay-at-home-mom brain cell melt drove her to pull out a pen and one of her old college notebooks.

That turned into six manuscripts.

Lisa spent subsequent years avoiding housework by burying her nose in just about every romance novel she could get her hands on, after completely falling in love with the genre. Her own work falls into the romantic suspense sub-genre, with strong comedic undertones.

Lisa currently lives in the Atlanta area with her family, her dog, her cat and her daughter’s pet rabbit. When she isn’t attempting to keep the rabbit from eating the woodwork, she’s hard at work on her next novel.

You can find out more about Ms. O'Neill in the following places:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

**DECEPTION**

Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Categories: Action/Adventure, Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Lisa Clark O'Neill

Release Date: June 4, 2013

Heat Level: Steamy

Word Count: 103,000

**BLURB**

Samantha Martin’s carefully reconstructed life is teetering on the edge of disaster. After surviving an abusive childhood, Sam is only months away from completing her hard-won college degree when she gets devastating news about her brother. Donnie, her protector and best friend, lies in a coma in a Charleston hospital.

Sam struggles with the question of who shot her beloved brother as well as the monumental expenses of his ongoing care, and in desperation seeks ready cash by agreeing to act as the “entertainment” for a local man’s bachelor party – where to her everlasting mortification, she encounters the one man who’d ever meant enough to her to break her heart.

Forensic artist Josh Harding recognizes the butterfly tattoo on the curvaceous hip of the wig-bedecked stripper. After all, he’d spent hours sketching her lovely figure while a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Now here she is, eight years later, and it becomes clear that Sam is in trouble. Seemingly unrelated threads weave into a pattern surrounding her and her brother. Exposing criminal enterprise among the upper echelon of local society and the shocking truth behind the city’s most famous murder, the unexpected connections that neither Josh nor Sam saw coming draw them both into a tangled web of love and Deception.

Warning: This title is intended for readers over the age of 18 as it contains adult sexual situations and/or adult language, and may be considered offensive to some readers.

Buy Links

Amazon

Smashwords

**GUEST POST**

**How To Write Sizzling Love Scenes

In Three Easy Steps**

Just kidding. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a formula for creating love scenes that virtually melt the print on the page? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as, well, Tab A goes into Slot B.

I’ve read numerous love scenes, some of them well-written but not particularly evocative, some of them drowning in purple prose. Some of them are told in deep point of view, some of them alternate between (or among) the characters, some of them are anatomically correct and some use clever euphemisms. But the love scenes that have stuck with me weren’t necessarily the most over-the-top or the naughtiest, but rather those that remained true to the characters involved.

Part of the secret – if one could call it that – of writing a successful novel is to create a world, and the characters that populate it, in which the reader can believe. That doesn’t mean we have to write stories that are grounded solely in reality. Obviously not, or the paranormal genre wouldn’t sell nearly as well as it does. But we do need to craft characters that hold fast to their own internal rules. If the character would be uncomfortable in certain situations, it’s not going to ring true to the reader when you throw those situations in just because you think it’s sexy. Maybe it is sexy, and maybe the character can be enticed to try new things or to discover different aspects of themselves – that’s what character development is all about. But unless you show the reader that process, they’re going to be wondering why the repressed librarian they’ve come to know in the previous twelve chapters is suddenly engaged in a ménage a trois behind the stacks. It’ll be good for some titillation, but not so great if you want your characters to be taken seriously.

So, the questions to ask yourself when writing a love scene could go something like this:

1. Does this scene further the plot?
2. Does the tone of the action remain true to the characters I’ve created?

If the answer to each of these questions is “yes,” then go for it. Let your characters live out their fantasies, and the reader will certainly enjoy being along for the ride.

Just remember that while some inhibitions may certainly be lost in the bedroom, a character doesn’t completely change identity when they shed their clothes.

Unless they’re Superman. But that’s a whole different blog post.

How about a taste of DECEPTION?

**EXCERPT**

By reading any further you are stating you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary for you to exit this site.

“You ran.”

Thinking that he was still upset about her car’s breakdown, she crossed her arms as he strode toward her. “No, I walked, actually.” He inched closer, and she backed up, rear end hitting the counter. He dropped his coat, literally tossing it on the floor, and she worried about his coherence. “Are you okay? Because that jacket’s not a rental.” She motioned to the crumpled garment, which lay like a fallen soldier on the field.

He kicked it to the side. “Eight years ago.” The tie hit the floor next, and Sam eyed its fluttering descent. “You ran away from Savannah.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up as the first cufflink fell, skittering under the cabinets with a metallic clang. “You ran away from me.” Off flew cufflink number two, another kamikaze victim of the conflict. Josh was either mad or maybe… hot. Sometimes tuxedos could be uncomfortable. Although it wasn’t that warm in the room.

Then her brain registered what he’d just said.

“I…” Sam watched the other little monogrammed circle roll off to join its comrade. What the hell had they been serving at that reception? “I ran from you?”

A sock went flying over her shoulder.

Well, she guessed she had. But what did that have to do with anything? Unless he was feeling guilty because he realized she’d been in love with him at the time. Was still in love with him now. Maybe he was upset about their current situation. Maybe he thought that she should leave. Although how that translated into him taking off his clothes she wasn’t entirely sure.

“Oh, God, Josh.” This wasn’t the conversation she’d meant to have with him. She’d simply wanted to let him know that she was okay with his lifestyle, but it looked like she’d opened a different can of worms. “Look,” she lifted a hand to her temple, “what happened back then is totally irrelevant.”

“I beg to differ,” he said, his beautifully tapered fingers working the buttons on his shirt. “What happened in the past is completely relevant. It laid the foundation for what’s going to happen tonight.” An increasing swath of skin was revealed by his busily marching fingers. Sam tried not to get distracted by The Chest.

“What?” She peeled her eyes away, confused.

And the fact that he was now half naked wasn’t helping matters.

“Um, Josh, I’m not sure if you, uh, maybe, swam in the champagne fountain or something, but maybe we might want to have this conversation tomorrow. After you’ve sobered up.”

A feral look came into those sparkling baby blues and Sam grasped the sink behind her. Because his hands were now attacking his pants. She was happy he was comfortable enough to disrobe in front of her, but it sort of drained the blood from her head.

Was this some kind of test?

Could she resist jumping her hot, naked homosexual friend amidst the rubble of formalwear blitzkrieg currently littering his kitchen?

Truthfully? Probably not. Although she’d pull a Geronimo and give it a good effort.

But then Josh blasted through whatever fortifications she’d erected by dropping a lethal, unexpected bomb.

“I’m not drunk,” he said, releasing his zipper. Pushing his pants down his muscled thighs. “And I’m not gay.”

No. He certainly wasn’t. The state of his silk boxers gave credence to that.

Sam’s eyes boggled as she confronted the hard evidence, while her rioting hormones shouted thank you, God.

But all these years… how was it possible that she’d been wrong?

She raised her gaze to his in amazement.

He met it with a triumphant smile.

And then he was on her, the very naked skin of his chest pressed solidly against her T-shirt. She could feel his heat through the threadbare cotton and her nipples puckered in response. Then his lips took hers in a hungry caress that was more ruthless than she would have expected.

Not that she’d been expecting any caressing at all.

His hands slid down her hips, taking their measure as they passed, to grip her rump in a possessive squeeze that left no doubt as to his intentions. Lights exploded inside her head, tiny white starbursts of disbelief. And when he lifted her a few inches to press his erection firmly against her, liquid heat pooled between her legs.

Her body was at once alive with sensation and yet paralyzed by shock.

**GIVEAWAY**

a Rafflecopter giveaway    

Bahaha! ROFLMAO! I can totes relate to avoiding housework by reading my smutty entertainment. *nods* I used to clean a room, then read a chapter – or maybe two – then clean, read, and so on. I got to do what I wanted and felt like I was accomplishing something too. Anyway, what did you all think? Sounds like a great read.

I always welcome your feedback and would love to get your thoughts on the blurb, excerpt, author, or anything you would like to say about this post today.

I would like to thank Ms. O'Neill for taking the time to create this post for us today, as well as hopping in to say hi. I hope that you all had as much fun as I did today learning about this author and her book. As always, if you are intrigued, consider buying a copy for yourself to show your support. Have a fantastic day and I will see you all soon! Until then …

HAPPY READING!!!!